Street-railway switch



2 Sheets-Sheet I.

` H. WILLIAMS. STREET RAILWAY SWITCH (No Model.)

Patented Oct. 22,A

N. PETERS, Pnowmnugrapher. wnhnton. DSC.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets--Sheet 2.

J.H. WILLIAM-s. A

STREET R'AILWY SWITCH. No. 21.13.592. Patented 001;. 22,1889..

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WTNEEEEE:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

4JOHN Il. WILLIAMS, OF BOSTON, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO BENJAMIN F.

BARN-ARD, OF WAKEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

STREET-RAI LWAY SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 413,592, dated October22, 1889. Application iiled December 22, 1888. Serial No. 294,410. (Nomodel.)

l.To all whom t 'may concern,.-

Be it known that I, JOHN H. WILLIAMS, of Boston, in thecounty of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented certain newand usefulImprovements in Street-Railway Switches, of which the following is aspecifis cation.

This invention has for its object to provide improved means whereby amovable switch# point on a street-railway track may be shifted by thedriver of an approaching car to connect a branch or side track with theportion of the main track on which lthe car is running, and also toenable a wheel of the approaching car to throw the switch so as to makethe main track continuous in case the approaching car finds the switchset to connect the side track with the main track.

' To these ends my invention consists in the improvements which I willnow proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,Figure l is a plan view of a portion of a street-railroad track havingmy improvement. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the operatingattachment on the car, and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of saidattachment.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in allthe'iigures.

In the drawings, a a represent the rails of the main track of astreet-railway, and b brepresent the branch or side track rails.

c represents the movable switch-point,which is pivoted atd, and isformed, as usual, to make the main-track rail a continuous when set inone position and to connect the branch rail Z9 with the main rail a whenset in the other position, the other. main track and branch beingconnected by a frog fof the usual construction. The inner end of theswitch-point is attached to a vertical shaft or drum g, which isjournaled in suitable bearings in avault or chamber h below the track.At a suitable distance `,from the switchrail is another vault or chambert' below the track, and in said vault is journaled a horizontal drum j,to which is eccentrically connected a rod k, extending upwardly throughthe cover of the vault and projecting above the same, its upper endbeing between the main rails. a a and sufficiently above the pavement toenable it to be acted on by an attachment on a car approaching t-heswitch m. Said attachment is here shown as a standard 2, iitted to slidein a guide in the front platform of a street-car and adapted to bedepressed by the drivers foot. The lower end of the standard 2 isprovided with a roller 3, which, when the standard is depressed, is inposition to strike the rod la and depress the latter, thereby partiallyrotating the drum j. Said drum is connected by a wire rope n, or,

if preferred, by a chain, with the vertical switch-point inwardly andconnect the maintrack rail a withthe branch rail b, so that when the carreaches the switch it will pass onto thebranch or side track. Thestandard 2 is normally raised by a spring 4, so that its roller will notstrike the rod 71: unless depressed by the driver.

To restore the switch to its closed position (shown in Fig. 1) after ithas been opened, as above described, I provide a second horizontal drumo, journaled in a vault p, located farther from the switch than thevault e'. The drum 0 has a rod q, which extends upwardly through a slotin the iiange of the main-track rail a, and is arranged to be depressedby one 0f the wheels of a car approaching the switch. The drum o isconnected bya rope r with the switch-operating drumg, said rope being sowound as to communicate to the switch-drum, by the partial rotation ofthe drum o, a motion opposite to that produced by the rotation of theother drum j, said motion throwing the switch-point outwardly and makingthe main rail a continuous. It will be seen, therefore,

that after the switch has been opened by the action of the earattachment m on the switchopening drum j it remains open until theapproach of another car, one of the wheels of which operates theswitch-closing drum o and restores the switch to its closed position, sothat there is no possibility of the switching ICO 0E of the second carunless the driver, after the wheel of his car has operated theswitchclosing drum, depresses the standard 2 and again operates theswitch-opening drum. It is therefore impossible for two cars insuccession to pass onto the side track unless by the connivance of thedrivers. In case the switchopening drum should be accidentally oper'-ated by contact of a vehicle-wheel or a horses hoof with its rod k vtheswitch is restored by the action of the next car on the switch-closingdrum.

It is obvious that various modifications may be made inthe details ofconstruction without departing from the spirit of my invention. Forexample, the operating-rods k q may be connected to arms attached to theshafts of the drumsj o, instead of being directly attached to the drums.

It will be seen that the described connection of the switch opening andclosing drums with the switch-connected drum causes the motion of onedrum to set the operating-rod of the other drum. For example, when theswitch-opening drum is turned by the depression of the rod k, therotation of the drum g thereby caused is communicated to the drum 0through the rope yr, and the rod q is thereby raised into position to beacted on by a carwheel, the rod 7c remaining depressed, so that it willnot be in position to be operated on until it is raised by thedepression of the rod q, the rods 7c and q being arranged so that onlyone at a time can project upwardly far enough to Vbe acted on in themanner described.

The described switch-operating mechanism is of very simple constructionand can be arranged in very compact form. The vaults used need notexceed a square foot in size, and thepipes ssconnecting them maybe muchsmaller, said pipes being provided to contain the ropes n fr between thevaults. The pipes s s may be screwed or otherwise securely connected tothe vaults, and the pipes and vaults may be hermetically closed, so thatno water can enter them, thus preventing the interference of ice withthe operation of the devices in the vaults.

This invention may be used for electric and cable roads as well as forroads on which the cars are drawn by horses.

For the sake of convenience, in the following claims I term the drumwhose act-ion makes the switch continuous with the side track theswitch-opening drum, while the other drum, whose action makes the switchcontinuous with the main track, is termed the switch-closing drum.

l. The combination,with a track and a movable switch, of a drum or shaftconnected with said switch, a switch-opening drum having anoperating-rod arranged between the maintrack rails for operation byanattachment on a car, a switch-closing drum located farther from theswitch than the said opening-drum and having an operating-rod arrangedto be acted on by a car-wheel on the main track, and flexibleconnections between said switch opening and closing drums and the switchdrum or shaft, as set forth.

2. The combination, with a track and a movable switch, of a series ofvaults h t' p below the track, pipes or conduits connecting said vaults,a vertical drum g, journaled in the vault h and secured to the switch,horizontal drums j o, journaled, respectively, in the vaults i p, anoperating device for the drum j, arranged between the tracks, anoperating device for the drum o, arranged with its upper end in one ofthe track-rails, and cables or chains n fr, connecting the drum g withthe drums j o, respectively, all arranged and operating substantially asset forth.

3. The combination, with the switch rail and track, of a drum g, locatedbelow and attached to the switch-rail, drums j o, located at differentdistances from the switch and provided, respectively, withoperating-rods t' q, which are arranged to project alternately above thetrack,one being arranged to be operated by an attachment on the car andthe other by a car-wheel, and cables n r, connecting the drum g with thedrumsj o, respectively, said cables being tightly drawn between saiddrums, whereby when 011e operating-rod is depressed the other is raised,and vice versa.

4. The combination,with the switch rail and track, of a drum g, locatedbelow and attached to the switch-rail, drums j o, located at differentdistances from the switch and provided, respectively, withoperating-rods k q, which are arranged to project alternately above thetrack, one being arranged to be operated by an attachment on the car andthe other by a car-wheel, and cables n r, connecting the drum g with thedrums j o, respectively, and vaults h t' p and pipes s s', constitutinga water-excluding casing for said drums and cables, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, this 15th day of December, A. D.1888.

JOHN H. WILLIAMS. Vitnesses:

C. F. BROWN, A. D. HARRISON.

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